August 16, 2016 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITIís Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks.

Blackboard rolled out the competency-based education (CBE) Digital Readiness Tool. This online self-assessment resource helps universities implement a CBE program by using it to “define their CBE program for viability and scalability; align their policies, practices and authority to deliver CBE; establish a curricular framework with faculty; create a powerful learning environment; and provide high quality touchpoints for faculty,” according to the press release. Blackboard’s team of CBE experts developed the tool.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) plans to create a preprint server, ChemRxiv, for the global chemistry community’s open dissemination of scientific findings. ACS is asking interested stakeholders to help shape the service before it launches. ChemRxiv will be designed to follow the models of the existing arXiv (physics, math, computer science, etc.) and bioRxiv(life sciences) servers.

EBSCO Information Services introduced an authoritative international collection of publications from the 60-plus countries that constitute the One Belt, One Road trade initiative, which was designed to connect mainland China with trading partners in Western Europe and other areas. The One Belt, One Road Reference Source gives researchers an understanding of the cultures and economies of these countries so they can identify new trade possibilities.

Adam Matthew Digitizes 18th-Century British Correspondence With American Colonies

Adam Matthew published Module II of Colonial America, titled Towards Revolution, which is the second part of a five-part collection of the complete CO 5 class from the U.K.’s The National Archives. It features original correspondence between the British government and the American colonies (from 1606 to 1822, with a focus on the 1760s and 1770s) that is available online for the first time.

ProQuest partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education to launch a streaming version of the foundation’s Visual History Archive, which features 112,000 hours of video testimonies by genocide survivors and witnesses from 63 countries. This upgrade includes ProQuest search options for specific terms and related ProQuest content, as well as transcription of English-language testimonies. It will broaden the use of the archive’s annually growing collection.

Paxata, a self-service data preparation platform for enterprises, “announced native push/pull seamless connectivity options to and from Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings including Amazon Redshift data warehouse and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3),” according to the press release. “Recognizing that speed, agility, and scale would be at the center of next generation information management strategies and architectures, Paxata optimized its self-service platform on AWS to rethink data management and governance by putting context first and subject matter experts in the driver seat of data shaping.” Paxata also leverages machine learning to help analysts speed up data aggregation and shaping.

McGraw-Hill Education signed an agreement to preserve its ebook library (which covers a variety of subject areas, including business leadership and management and finance and investing) and AccessScience articles (which cover scientific fields) using Portico. McGraw-Hill’s page on the Portico site summarizes the content that has been preserved so far.

Taylor & Francis entered a trial with Peerage of Science, “a free service for scientific peer review and publishing,” according to its website. Peerage of Science is available for 30 of Taylor & Francis’ journals, including the Journal of Natural History and Climate and Development. Articles in these journals will have the option to be peer-reviewed before being submitted to a specific publication. Submitted articles will be made instantly available for review. After being reviewed, authors can choose which journal is the best fit, and editors can choose which articles they want for their journal.

Accessible Archives added a faceted search screen so that its student, faculty, library, and general public users can drill down to more targeted results, enhancing the search experience. The update is inspired by feedback from customers, a 2015 librarian survey, and consultation with the company’s Interface Advisory Board. Its features include the ability to filter content by date, publication type, and/or collection and to search within current results.

Evanced Solutions, LLC updated its SignUp event management software for libraries with a mobile-enabled and faster-loading interface. Patrons can use it to sign up for email notifications about upcoming library events, register for those events, and pay any relevant registration fees. SignUp can be integrated into library websites and ILSs, and once an event is over, libraries receive detailed reports that can show their ROI.